Brave Eureka fall short in All-Ireland final
Kells based, Eureka Secondary School were beaten by a talented Mount Saint Michael side in the All Ireland PPSS Senior B Final on Thursday.
Tom Gannon
Mount Saint Michael 1-11
Eureka Secondary School 0-9
A brave performance from Eureka Secondary School was not enough on the day as they fell short against Mount Saint Michael from Mayo in the All-Ireland Post-Primary Secondary School Senior B final in Kiltoom on Thursday.
An early goal was a sucker blow for the Kells school and although the Mayo outfit managed to keep their noses in front for the majority, Eureka battled hard to stay within touching distance.
In the second-half, Eureka played with a wind advantage, but their efforts in the opening 30 minutes had taken a toll on the legs of the girls in light blue and Mount Saint Michael were always able to keep a safe distance between the two sides.
Eureka corner forward, Jane Hetherton was their top scorer on the day with 0-4 and her tally included a couple of brilliant points. The midfield pairing of Katie Kavanagh and Cora McDonnell worked their socks off as did full forward Ella McGlue. McGlue was constantly tracking back and made some fantastic interceptions.
From a defensive perspective, Eureka did quite well for the most part, however, they had no answers on how to deal with Bree Hession who is a current Mayo senior footballer and finished the game with a tally of 0-7.
Eureka defended marvellously in the opening seven minutes and down the other end, two points, one each for Deirdre O'Reilly and Cara Brennan, handed the Kells side an early 0-2 to 0-1 lead.
Keeper, Caragh Reilly Brady was forced to make a great save to deny Roisin Horkan and Mount Saint Michael a goal-scoring opportunity. A few minutes later, a long ball in caused some issues for the Eureka netminder, and Caoilinn Walsh capitalised by finding the back of the net to put Mount Saint Michael up by two after 10 minutes.
Bree Hession followed up Walsh's goal with a point to widen the gap before Lauren Finnegan did well to knock down a Mount Saint Michael kick-out into the path of Jane Hetherton who then slotted over for Eureka. Bree Hession responded with her third point in the 21st minute before Ella Morgan cancelled that point out with a fantastic individual score.
Mount Saint Michael then seized momentum and scored four points on the trot in the remaining five minutes of the half, two from Lily Hession and one a piece from Ashleagh Salmon and Bree Hession. At the break, Mount Saint Michael led by 1-7 to 0-4.
Eureka started the second-half quite well and a fantastic score from Hetherton who had run half the pitch before popping the ball over cancelled out a Bree Hession free.
The two opposing centre-forwards Lauren Finnegan and Bree Hession traded points before two Eureka scores on the trot, courtesy of a Hetherton free and well executed McGlue point reduced the gap back to four with 13 minutes left still to play.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Kells side got and two points late on from Bree Hession and sub Aine Lynn sealed the deal for the Mayo School. An injury time point for Hetherton was nothing more than a consolation as the All-Ireland PPSS Senior B title went west.
Mount Saint Michael - Alyssa Murphy; Ashling Cummins, Jessica Commins, Anna Roche; Sienna Kelly, Amy Cummins, Emma Higgins; Siomha McNulty, Isobel Phillips; Eabha Finnerty, Bree Hession (0-7 three frees), Lily Hession (0-2); Caoilinn Walsh (1-0), Roisin Horkan, Ashleagh Salmon (0-1). Subs -Aine Lynn (0-1) for Finnerty 43m, Clodagh Keane for Salmon 58m.
Eureka Secondary School - Caragh Reilly Brady; Nicole Smith, Issey McKeon, Dearbhaile Flynn; Aifric Larkin, Katie Lynch, Eadaoin Morgan; Katie Kavanagh, Cora McDonnell; Ella Morgan (0-1), Lauren Finnegan (0-1), Cara Brennan (0-1); Jane Hetherton (0-4 one free), Ella McGlue (0-1), Deirdre O'Reilly (0-1). Jodie Loughran for O'Reilly 41m, Grace Conachy for Eadoin Morgan 63m, Jasmine Tegetmeier for Finnegan, Zoe Farrelly for Flynn, both 64m.
Referee - David Hurson (Monaghan)